11. I didn't vote for RR either. I thought the frigging world was coming to an end with he got in.

I'd known of his actions in CA, and I was sick when he beat Carter. And in a way, much of the world that I knew and many counted on did come to an end, his first actions showed that he had joined the worst of them.

And then he used his acting skills and that sentimental music to convince voters he was going to be their long-lost Daddy, whatever. Really slick presentations.

His election was the religious right's victory. Remember the GOP primaries of that decade with Ralph Reed, Alan Keyes and televangelist Pat Robertson?

Within a few months of RR's reign, it was one of those 'I told you so' momenta as he went after unions. Because I was in a union and warned my fellows that RR would harm us. In fact, our employers boasted how we'd be 'put in our place,' when RR got in office. They saw their work degraded, wages and benefits slashed and eventually their jobs gone.

Many of them were angry with women and minorities getting into the union to compete with them. You know, the anti Affirmative Action, 'they didn't really deserve it,' crowd.

What goes around, comes around. And I haven't seen any improvement among GOP voters, the Reagan Democrats.

13. A have yet to meet a "Reagan Democrat"

I guess they exist. I guess Jimmy Carter didn't look like the Navel Admiral he was.

I guess gas prices going up, I guess those 120+ hostages the Republicans kept imprisoned so that they won the election meant nothing to Reagan.

Carter was as brave as Obama was with his raid in Iran, unfortunately it failed. Obama's succeeded, and now we have Navy Seals saying Obama was not so brave because he played golf on the day of the raid he ordered. (and they admit that they are birthers, too)

Carter is the former President I am most proud of, given what he has done in his next 32 years.

We have Clinton, too, who seems to have raised billions to fight starvation and poverty worldwide.

14. I watched my coworkers go from Carter to Reagan, not over gas prices. It was AA that did it for them

It built slowly with media pundits and the reverse racism changes relating to college admissions, employment, etc.

By the time Carter got in office, the workplace had changed with consent degrees, etc. mandating equal opportunity, not quotas, at least not where we worked. There was an influx of women, blacks, browns and gays in what had been a previously all white work force and some resented it a great deal.

So it was a few years coming, along with the right of the televangelists. Oh, it was grown by the right wingers, creating a new victim group, white males. It was disappointing.

Add in a little bit of Cold War talk and there it was. People vote more in terms of their economic interests no matter what that leads to and they were being promised that a lot of that affirmative action would be rolled back under a Reagan administration. And it was.

But the same tide of inequality he unleashed left no stones unturned and degraded their lives as well. When Reagan gave illegals amnesty, they were blaming them for the downfall of their working conditions.

Carter was the subject of fossil fuel industry hatred because he signed a bill that would put the nation on the road to independence with alternatives and the global energy companies had to stop that no matter what. The hostage crisis and gas shortage were possibly both manufactured for that reason. I lived in a state hurt when Reagan got in bed with the Saudis for 'cheap gas' and watched it devastate the domestic production of gas.

Reagan did a lot of damage to the domestic social and economic scene. Some of us remember the rust belt and the other moves to send our manufacturing base off shore in those years. His fabled Star Wars defense shield and other programs purposefully ate up the peace dividend the American people expected at the end of the Vietnam War.

Those who worked with him bragged they were going to run up the deficit to destroy Social Security, etc. Gotta keep a 'thrifty working class' on tap for cheap labor.

I'd have said RR was the worst president of my lifetime, and then Shrub showed up. If RR get in office, we can kiss our ass goodbye.

5. Wasn't it NancyLauraCyndyAnn who changed his mind...oh, her and her psychic/astrologer?

9. Pretty much

Nancy was a lifelong Republican as far as I can tell. Nancy managed to get herself on the blacklist and Ronnie was the man to see about such things. A little quid pro quo resulted in Nancy getting knocked up and the rest is history.

I think Raygun left the party for the same reason a lot of other racists did. Once the Democrats adopted a civil rights platform, the racists became persona non grata and the Republicans welcomed them with open arms.

12. +1. Yes, I'm sorry to say that some of my extended family while strong on unions and FDR, were...

Definitely showing those racist tendencies even though one of them was an emigrant who complained about not being treated fairly. He described being beaten for not speaking English well by the 'cops,' yet when the Democratic Convention in 1968 happened, he was all for the protestors getting beaten. ???

What he did, I understand now, was to identify with his oppressor. I suspect this is what happens to many. It's going with the winning side, not necessarily the best choice.

They were strong on women's rights, labor and 'blue dog Democrats.' They still voted for Democratic candidates, but the things they said as the sixties rolled on with the push for civil rights were shocking to me.